I've had a Heroes breakthrough!‏

So maybe it's because I recently watched one of the worst pilots I've ever seen (that's Moonlight, in case you were interested. And if you think I complain about Heroes, ask me about that show...) but I really didn't think last night's Heroes was that bad. Again, it was too much with the exposition and was a bit boring, but I didn't think it was bad as last week. I was actually defending Mohinder in my head while I was watching when he was being chastised for "losing" the Haitian. If it wasn't a double-cross, Mohinder couldn't have known what the Haitian was capable of, so it was the fault of Mr. Midas (I think they called him "Bob" last night) for sending him in unprepared. Regardless, all this double-crossing and covertness that Mohinder is involved in has raised the character slightly in my eyes. The actor is still as awful as ever, but on the Maddening Mohinder Meter, the character was about a 6 last night, as opposed to his 9 last week. Plus, there was no Molly (except in sleep mode), Hiro actually used his powers well, Peter's scenes weren't terrible (but some of those Irish accents are a bit too much and I know Peter does not have memory of all his powers but how hard could it possibly be to get that box from them?), and Niki, et al are still MIA. Not really crazy about the twins so far, and the Bennetts don't interest me, even though Mr. Muggles had me laughing pretty hard (filling my Vincent quota, no doubt). And I did not like him in the first episode, but after last night, West is inching closer to the Peter/Mohinder spectrum of characters. He is extraordinarily annoying and creepy. And oh my god I hate that fucking book! Is it like some heroic talisman that draws "exceptional" people to it? Written by a man who never seemed to be too highly regarded by his contemporaries, the book still managed to be translated into Spanish (from last week) and somehow found by a weird high schooler? My "Is this too obvious even for Heroes?" question of the week is: Claire really isn't a descendant of Kensei's right? Blonde hair, regeneration, the title of this season is "Generations." And related to that, how big of a loser do you have to be if you don't fight your own fights knowing that you can't die? Also, do you think that Kensei/Claire are immortal?

Same shit, different season‏

Nothing much changes. Some old Heroes. (Peter Petrelli!) It felt like almost nothing has changed from last year. Not that anything really happened in the finale anyway, but it felt like a brand new pilot. And I though it was pretty boring. My mind kept wandering. I mean, look at last year's pilot: Claire finding that she is unable to really fit in at her high school; Hiro as a fish out of water; Mohinder speechifying and making my eyes roll. Even Peter Petrelli!, who we barely saw, is still doing that wide-eyed, slack jawed look of confusion/irritation. Well, Nathan's different at least. (And I have to give it up to Adrian Pasdar for not having to rely on the makeup department for that imposing beard.) For the record: 1. I did not miss Niki. 2. It took me about two minutes into the episode before I redeclared my hatred of Mohinder. (Around the time he was "manhandling" the man with the Midas touch.) 3. Hiro must stop his exclamations of "Yatta!" I think my theme for season two will be "I hate overly precocious children." Honestly, Molly is just as annoying as Parkman's wife from last year. Is it wrong that I hope that the boogeyman gets her? Maybe the new characters will be interesting. I thought too much time was spent on Maya (Blanca) and her brother because you knew she was going to do something bad - it just took too long to get there. I thought the bug-eyed flying high schooler was kinda creepy. He was weird with his obsession on the whole robots vs. aliens thing, but flying outside Clairebear's window moved him into full-on creep territory. And by the way, West? What kind of name is West? Suddenly I don't mind Noah. Speaking of Mr. Bennett, something else that has already grown old is his new job. Not funny at all. Not interesting at all. Made Noah look like an ass. Peter Petrelli!'s appearance was no shock (as the opening credits screwed me again), but his memory loss is interesting. When Sulu was killed, my first thought that it was Peter Petrelli!. I then developed a whole theory about how he was now under the control of The Company working as their assassin. That would have been an interesting twist. On to Hiro. I was really hoping to like Hiro again this season. And it's got nothing to do with Masi Oka, cause I do still think he's good. (The highpoint of the episode was his reaction to Kensei taking off his mask.) But they have got to do something different with him. (Does anyone else think that Hiro is going to "become" Kensei or is that too obvious and hokey even for this show?) But the guy who's playing Kensei used to be on Alias (so if I refer to someone as Sark, that's who I mean) and I really like him, so I suppose that will keep me invested in that storyline. (And if Hiro could find a way to bring him back with him to the future, that'd be cool with me.) Eh, like I said before, just really dull and mostly uninteresting. I still don't know how I can still be disappointed by this show, considering that I really should have learned by now... Oh, I don't want to forget, the "This week, Heroes reminded me of..." section of my email. That's where I name all of the other pop culture similarities that I picked up on. I'm not saying they are copying, I'm just saying that it's been done before, and better. #1 The Princess Bride: So, it turns out that Kensei is kinda like the Dread Pirate Roberts. People fear and respect the name, but it has nothing to do with the man. #2 Back to the Future: All Hiro's talk about changing the future because he stood in the way of Kensei, and now Sark won't marry the princess because he didn't protect the village sounds an awful lot like Marty McFly stopping his father from falling in love with his mother. (In this analogy Biff is the enemy that destroyed the village.) #3 Watchmen: A hero killer that has to be stopped by the next generation of heroes. #4 Buffy: Peter Petrelli! appears in a scant amount of clothes, in chains, with no memory. This reminded me when Angel came back from hell in the third season of Buffy, with no memory, no clothes, and eventually, chains.

The Sopranos‏

I'm having trouble coming up with definitive thoughts on last night's finale. (My first reaction to the ending was panic, but not anger.) I personally greatly dislike (but I don't hate) finales of shows that tie up all the loose ends. I have never been crazy about Buffy's finale, while Angel's finale may be my favorite hour of television ever. To me, that's the deference between a great finale and a safe finale (which can be good, but never great, at least not for me). At the very least, the finale was in character with every other season finale of The Sopranos. Right now, last night's episode is sitting very well with me. My problem however, is that I can't yet separate how other people (i.e. most of the message board postings I've read this morning) are reacting to the finale with how I feel. It's hard to look at objectively, because, honestly, I love that it seems like 75% of the people that watched it are seething over it. I think that's awesome. (And I apologize if you are one of those people, I will try to stop delighting in your misery.) I came across this at a review website that comes close to my feelings on the show (I especially agree with the third paragraph): Some people read "Moby Dick" and all they get out of it is an adventure story about a guy hunting a whale. And there's nothing wrong with that; it just means that you're reading on a less advanced level than some of the rest of us. It also means that Herman Melville wasn't really writing "Moby Dick" for you. A lot of people seem to have wanted "more resolution" from the finale, and there's nothing wrong with that, either. But I think it demonstrates that you weren't really David Chase's intended audience all these years. Don't blame him for that; he hasn't changed the way he writes, you've developed unrealistic expectations for how his story was going to end. It may be that many people in the audience for "The Sopranos" thinks they've been watching a crime drama, when in fact what they've been watching for close to a decade is a character drama. It's literature thinly disguised as entertainment. To expect the series to end with some sort of huge dramatic gesture, when the series has tended always to find its endings in quiet, contemplative moments . . . well, folks, if that's what you expected, I don't blame you for being disappointed. But I've also got to question you in this: were we watching the same series all these years? If you were watching for gunfights and melodrama, which were fairly scarce, then how did you ever really get much enjoyment out of this show? Weren't you just bored for vast stretches of time? I'd also like to put forth an opinion on an increasingly prevalent pair of theories that people have on what the ending "meant" storywise. First off, the "Tony was actually killed" theory: It's got a certain amount of logic to it, and would also work thematically with the rest of the series, to say that the abrupt fade-out represents a bullet suddenly entering Tony's brain and killing him, but I don't buy it. I WOULD buy it if one thing had been true: if the series of edits in the final scene had dwelled on one of the other customers in the diner alone, rather than on multiple customers. That way, the editing and the camera would have been cueing us into the fact that there was something important about this one person in relation to all the other people there as part of the background. But instead, we were shown lingering shots of several other customers. We were seeing them as Tony sees them: suspiciously. The camera created an expectation in our gut that told us there was a reason to be seeing these people. This, in fact, is how Tony sees everyone, and for this one scene, we feel what he feels about them: that they need to be watched. This scene is all about making us understand what it is like to be Tony, with death from a strange hand always something he's got to be on guard against. From that perspective, every single shot in the sequence makes complete sense. If, on the other hand, we assume that one of the people -- probably the guy who goes to the bathroom -- kills Tony while he (and we) aren't looking, then a lot of the shots in the sequence become meaningless. The guy in the booth, for example, suddenly ceases to have any meaning at all. And that does not fit with the overall MO of "The Sopranos." Shots are not just thrown in randomly on this show. They may not always carry an immediately apparent meaning, or the meaning may sometimes turn out to to be something different from what you intially think it is, but there is always a meaning there. The "Tony got whacked" theory would be a complete violation of this rule, which "The Sopranos" has followed very carefully for its entire run. For the series to change that abruptly right at its end and all of a sudden start using whodunit-type gimicks would be a complete reversal of the entire series. That kind of thing has happened before in Hollywood, so it wouldn't be unprecedented, but I think we can rule it out. I can, at least. As for the other theory, suggesting that Tony somehow got whacked while in bed at hissafehouse, and the whole episode was his dying dream . . . that's just silly. Absolutely NOTHING inthe episode supports that "theory." There is no surrealism, as there was in the episodes after Juniorshot Tony. Yes, the editing of the diner scene seems briefly to dip into surrealism; but if you pay close attention, you'll see that Tony has merely taken off his jacket once he is seated, NOT that he's somehow wearing a different shirt. As for the bedsheet issue at the top of the episode . . . since Tony is wearing entirely different clothes than he was wearing at the end of the previous episode, I think it's safe to assume that several days have passed. Either way, thinking that the episode is a dream sequence is ridiculous. My feelings: GREAT finale. People will talk about it for decades to come.



That was probably the best review of the episode that I have read, and it comes very close to how I felt about the finale, and the show as a whole. The guy who wrote it constantly refers to the idea of "I am what I am, it's my nature, I can't help it" and I think that was not only a major point in the last episode, but the whole series, and especially the final (two part) season. Beginning with Tony getting shot and having his "new" outlook on life - how long did that last? A few months? (Time is often hard for me to figure out on The Sopranos - but that's another story.) Essentially, whenever Tony and Melfi would make a "breakthrough" in therapy, it centered on him realizing something inherently "wrong" with him, but he was always unwilling to attempt to fix it. It was always his mother's fault or Janice's fault or Carmella's fault, there was nothing he could do about it. Is the Tony of the finale that different from the Tony of the very first episode? No, he is who he is, it's his nature. (The show ended with his death and incarceration as two very real possibilities for Tony. That's pretty much how the show started too.) I'm glad that the show did not end with someone dying. To me, that would have felt cheap. It would have been shocking for shock's sake. (Especially if they killed Meadow.) I always prefer ambiguity to concrete answers - it leads to more discussion and arguments and means that I'll probably be thinking about the Sopranos for longer than a few days. I feel like Agent Harris. I know that Tony's a criminal, but I can't help but root for him to come out on top. I don't always like him, but I didn't want the show to end with his death.

Jack might love Kate, but Peter definitely loves Lost‏

Whatever your feelings on the finale, you have got to admit that the
producers and writers on this show have got humongous balls to do what they
just did.

They potentially alienated a huge chunk of the audience, not only by killing
a very popular original character, but by possibly setting up a story that
does not have a happy ending. (For their main character, at least.)

Personally, I thought it was fantastic.

As is Lost's tradition though, it was short on answers and added more
questions:


Peter's Assumption #1: The flash forwards to Grizzly Adams Jack do in fact
happen in our present day.

If that is true, whose funeral did no one else attend? My first instinct was
Ben. After thinking about it all night, my other thoughts are Locke, Michael
or Sawyer.

If the flash forwards do actually occur in the present, then either Jack's
Dad never died and he's part of the conspiracy (something I have thought
since the beginning of season 2) or Jack is being sarcastic or too
high/drunk to realize that his Dad is dead. I prefer the former.

Angela said that she thought that they were trying to make Jack look older
in the flashes with the beard and all. I didn't get that at all, but another
big clue was the cell phone he was using. I remember thinking when he pulled
it out for the first time that it looked pretty (2007) modern. But I wrote
it off as a mistake or me not having any concept of current technology.

Could they all be dying since leaving the Island? If that's true, that could
explain why no one attended the funeral. (Either they are dead or don't want
to be reminded that they are dying.) And maybe that's why Kate has to get
back to "him." Whoever "he" is could be sick and dying. Another thought I
had was that "he" could be Kate and Sawyer's child. Or could "he" just be
the husband that she left when she was on the run from the cops?

If we are to believe that this is the aftermath of them getting off of the
Island, wouldn't Jack be famous for being an 815 survivor? People know him
from saving the kid and his mom, but I would think being the survivor of a
plane that was found at the bottom of the ocean (and after having been gone
for at least 3 months) would take precedence over his recent heroics. Maybe
it is another cover-up by whoever "saved" them?

How long has it been since they were "rescued"? If it takes place in our
present day and they left soon after they made contact, I guess it would be
about 2 1/2 years.

I didn't think of this until this morning, but why wasn't Kate in jail?


Peter's Assumption #2: The flash forwards take place in a timeline that
exists IF they continue on the path that started with Jack making contact
with Naomi's ship.

What if the events we saw were "flashes" that Desmond saw?

Desmond's flashes were always related to Charlie. By continuously saving
him, Desmond obviously not only influenced the present, but the future too.
Perhaps if he had let Charlie die previously, it would have been he who had
to go into the Looking Glass and sacrifice himself for everyone else. But by
having Charlie as his agent, he is now free to change the future himself.
Maybe he had the flashes of Charlie for a reason and that reason was to
prevent the future that would come (as we saw last night).

I don't think I'm describing this well. Ok:
Step 1: Desmond turns the fail safe key and develops precognitive abilities.
(Given to him by the Island?)
Step 2: Des saves Charlie multiple times.
Step 3: Des gets a flash of the button being pressed and Claire and Aaron
being rescued. He assumes Charlie does the pressing because that's who he
gets flashes about.
Step 4: He tells Charlie what Charlie has to do to get everyone saved.
Step 5: Charlie dies a hero, but not before warning Desmond about Naomi.

If this is all true, then the point of Desmond's flashes may be to save
everyone from Naomi's crew. Now that Des has the knowledge that Penny is not
associated with Naomi, he has the opportunity to stop the "rescue" from
coming and prevented the bleak future.

Maybe the flashes aren't from Desmond, maybe they are Jack's flashes.

Maybe they are constructs of Jack's imagination, his self-doubt, about
leaving the Island. Maybe he's still in captivity with the Others and they
are fucking with his head. (Not likely, I know, but anything is possible
with this show.)


Peter's Assumption #3: The flash forwards have nothing to do with anything
on the Island, and are simply another timeline entirely and were put there
to confuse us even more.

I don't really think this is the case, but it could explain how Christian
Shepard is alive, why Jack is not a celebrity from being a crash survivor,
why Kate is not in jail and anything else they want to explain that has no
relation to the Island.



Other questions/thoughts:

- Where will the series pick up next year? Will it be told from Grizzly
Jack's time, with flashbacks showing how everyone got off the Island? Will
it be focused on Jack's (and maybe other castaways) attempts to get back to
the Island? Or, taking a cue from Memento, will the story be told backwards,
with Kate & Jack's meeting the beginning/end, heading toward the moment they
left the Island?

- Charlie had to die. And he died a hero, by his own choice, which was a
nice way for him to go. However, if he didn't die, I was going to kill him
for giving those 2 commando chicks so much information - what was he
thinking? (Not that it ended up mattering anyway, but…) Him "singing to
himself" was hysterical though.

- Was Walt Jacob? Was he Smokey? Was he one of those crazy Island-induced
visions? All three? Could it actually have been Walt? Are Michael and Walt
dead do you think? Ben obviously does not want anyone he cannot trust off
the Island. What did he do with them?

- Matthew Fox was really good last night, especially when Jack thought he
had caused the deaths of Sayid, Jin and Bernard. But what kind of world is
Jack living in if in the future Kate seems more together than him? Come on!

- A whole bunch of awesomeness:

1. Hurley and the van: awesome. I had underestimated Mr. Reyes. I thought he
was going to get himself killed saving the day - instead he just saved the
day.

2. Desmond's excellent harpoon shooting: awesome. Too bad Mikhail is only on
#3 of his 9 lives. (He had a cat, do you think that means anything? Kidding,
I think.)

3. Rose's multiple zingers: awesome. "If I told you I'd help with your SOS
sign, would you reconsider?"; "If you say, 'Live together, die alone,' Jack,
I'm going to punch you in your face."; and making Bernard repeat "I am a
dentist; I am not Rambo."

4. Naomi's hysterical line to Jack: "What did you do before you became
Moses?" Awesome.

5. Sayid's death by legs: awesome-est killing ever.

6. The pinnacle of awesomeness last night: Jin. Awesome a zillion times
over. His unquestioning acceptance of death and refusal to give the Others
any information. And his English speaking to Sun. (I have to admit, that
made me well up a little.) However, Bernard is a big loser. A dentist and a
loser. Not only was he giving up his people, he gave up his wife! Come on!


- I think one of the reasons I didn't see the flash-forward reveal coming is
because I saw the names of Malcolm David Kelly (Walt) and Sonya Walger
(Penny) in the credits, so I figured the big twist would have something to
do with them. That is a good use of actors' names in opening credits.

- Could Naomi's people be Dharma/Hanso people? Angry at being purged from
the Island and seeking revenge?

- What is Jack sick of lying about? The cover-up from 815? (If such a thing
exists.)

- Was it a coincidence that Aaron cried when Charlie died? Maybe Walt's not
the only 'special' kid?

- Sawyer's shooting of Tom was pretty damn cold-blooded, but warranted, I
suppose. I had grown to like Tom though. Pity.


I feel like I'm not really doing the episode justice and there are other
things that should be touched upon. (Well, we do have 8-9 months to discuss
them.) On one hand, I am frustrated that we won't get any new episodes until
February, but on the other hand, I am so very happy that we have to wait
that long.

If no other definitive conclusions can be drawn from last night's Lost, at
least I can say I am sure about this: the writers know what they are doing,
they know where they are going and they are all way smarter than I am.

Even if every other finale I saw this spring sucked, Lost has made up for
all of them with two hours of well-paced, well-acted, well-written
confusion.

Peter Petrelli!‏

So I will start with the stuff I liked (believe me, it's not much): My favorite part of the whole episode was at the beginning when Sylar was painting and he exclaimed "Peter Petrelli!" and slashed the canvas in half. That scene (and the rest of the stuff with Sylar) is essentially why I have enjoyed Zachary Quinto's performance this season. He's really not a great actor, but he seems to know it, so he plays his scenes with enough campy-ness and eeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil that I never really take him seriously. I wish the show itself could take a cue from him. I think that if the show is going to consistently work, it doesn't necessarily have to be light-hearted, but it has to stop being so self-important and dour. Also, I'm going to try exclaiming "Peter Petrelli!" myself whenever I get frustrated with something. It seems like a very cathartic thing to say. I liked when Claire jumped out of the window. It at least showed some smarts. (Unlike the idiocy show by nearly all of the characters tonight, especially, I think, Peter Petrelli! and Parkman.) I like that Mr. Bennet has a first name, but I wish it could have been revealed better and that it wasn't such a stupid name. The reveal was completely distracting - why can't he have a name like Bill or Steve? Noah makes me think of the Ark and that seems a little to obviously allegorical to me. An episode of Heroes is bad if the only bad thing I can say about Mohinder is that he exists. I was expecting some sort of cliffhanger. Was Nathan sacrificing himself (if that's what he did) supposed to be shocking? That's a seed that was planted in the middle of the season when he was running toward Peter in Peter's vision. And you knew that since he was being called a "bee-lan" (villain) by Hiro last week, he would have to be redeemed somehow. What I am especially annoyed by in Nathan's case is the future storyline from a few weeks ago. Are we supposed to believe that an awkward Japanese (almost) stranger calling him a bad guy would change Nathan's outlook on life so drastically? I've always liked Nathan because he's got more than one dimension and because Adrian Pasdar is the best actor on the show. I don't disagree that Nathan might have sacrificed himself to save Peter, but according to the future of a few weeks before, he didn't. Seeing Simone again was pointless and a waste of time. I like Greg Grunberg but Parkman is really annoying. (At least) four bullets in the chest and we're supposed to think he has a chance? The episode also featured some of the corniest dialogue all season. My forehead was red because I kept smacking it: - When Molly was setting up next season's big bad, she reminded me of Haley Joel Osment from The Sixth Sense: "Because when I think about him (voice lowers to a whisper) he sees me." - Peter Petrelli!: "Is this a dream? Am I time-traveling? Are you doing this?" Simone's Daddy: "It doesn't really matter what it is, now does it?" It only matters that the writers are too lazy to come up with a good explanation and for some reason they wanted to bring back Shaft and show that he was part of the original Legion of Superheroes. - Regardless of how he got there, all that "All You Need is Love" talk between Shaft and Peter Petrelli! was also quite painful to watch. (As was Nathan's "You saved the cheerleader so we could save the world." Ugh.) - Another dialogue highpoint: Niki to D.L.: "What happened to them?" Did she expect him to say anything? "Oh, I don't know honey, I guess Nathan exploded into a million pieces in the sky and now that the radiation from the explosion is in our atmosphere, I'm guessing a lot more than .07% of the world's population is going to die. It doesn't really matter though, because I'm slowly dying anyway so I won't have to deal with the radiological fallout. I might be wrong though; I'm no Isaac Mendez. You'll have to ask Sylar, who, as evidenced by the snail trail of blood has vanished to the sewers to steal the powers of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Why couldn't Peter Petrelli! fly himself away? If Nathan is dead, it's a shame that the Petrelli name will be carried on by such a moron. I used to really like Hiro, but the ‘fish out of water' storyline grew tired half a season ago, and the end of the episode did nothing for me. Are we supposed to be shocked that that stupid symbol has been around for centuries? We already knew that! Are we supposed to think that Hiro went back to when it all began? The solar eclipse was obviously supposed to make us recall the beginning of the series. Is it like ‘It's A Wonderful Life' ("Every time a bell rings; an angel gets its wings.")? "Every time the sun goes bye; humans will evolve – some fly." I will not miss the show this summer. Finales are supposed to make you not want the show to end. When the high point of the episode was Sylar and his destruction of artwork, that's not a good thing. Peter Petrelli!

Do you think Desmond saw that oar coming?‏

I don't really think there's that much to discuss this week. (In terms of my
crazy theories, at least.) So this will be a quick email. (Relatively
speaking, of course.)

Another good, entertaining episode and nice set-up for the finale. I'll
break my thoughts down into bullet points:

- I honestly had no idea if Charlie was going to die this week. I think that
made for a very taut, edge-of-your-seat episode. I also think the abnormal
use of flashbacks this week helped to form a better episode - it was very
linear throughout. (In the "present" at least - Charlie's flashbacks were
decidedly non-linear.)

- I still like Jack. I'm glad that he finally learned to grow a set of
balls.

- It was nice to see Rose and Bernard, but I did not miss them. I almost
feel like the show should kill them so we don't constantly wonder where they
are. Since they are not regular cast members, and really aren't that
interesting, maybe it's time to end their story. (Bernard is a Tailie after
all.)

- The girl that Charlie saved in the flashback was Sayid's Nadia. Do you
think she's important at all since she's also been in Locke's flashback?
Just another crazy coincidence which will never be explained? Or is she just
a bad actress who needs work? (I don't remember her being bad in the past,
but her acting in that scene last night was distractingly awful.)

- Was Desmond lying to Charlie about the vision or is he just dying next
week or next season? Could his vision be wrong if he was telling the truth?
I'm a little confused as to what exactly the vision was based on Charlie's
reaction after coming up for air. I thought that Des said that he wasn't
going to drown until he pushed the button.

- Tangential to the previous bullet, was Juliet telling the truth when she
said that the Looking Glass station was abandoned? Did she really think
that? If she was lying, why?

- I feel like someone needs to punch Kate in the nose. (Or Juliet just needs
to use that crazy karate move on her again.)

- The girls in the Looking Glass reminded me of Rousseau (in attire, at
least - especially the one that you couldn't really see).

- The castaways actually worked as an ensemble last night. Haven't seen that
in awhile.

- Is Naomi telling the truth about anything?


Now onto my Lost Finale Death Watch:

Who I think is safe:
- Ben
- Claire (and Aaron)
- Juliet
- Kate
- Locke (I hope by assuming he is alive, I haven't cemented his fate as a
goner.)
- Sawyer
- Sayid
- Sun


Characters who might be in danger, but my gut (almost) tells me they
(probably) won't die next week (I think):
- Jack (but only because it's his flashback next week; otherwise I think
he's safe)
- Mikhail
- Naomi
- Richard
- Rose
- Tom


Who I think will die next week:
1. Rousseau or Alex or Karl
I am hoping that it is Karl, because he is the worst actor of the three. If
I had to bet, my money would be on Karl. But it would be awesome if Rousseau
accidentally killed Alex. That would make her even more crazy.

2. Bernard or Jin
Based on their scenes this week, I feel like one is going to go. I really
like Daniel Dae Kim, so I hope that he survives. If I had to choose between
the two, I would say 51% chance that Bernard dies; 49% chance that Jin dies.

3. Desmond or Hurley or Charlie
I think someone that people really like is going to die and the first
character I think of in that regard is Hurley. Charlie almost seems too
obvious, but although there are many Charlie haters out there, I still think
Dominic Monaghan is a fan-favorite. (Speaking from the perspective of a
Charlie disliker (but not quite hater), he has gotten better in previous
weeks, but I wouldn't really miss him.) I think Desmond is awesome, and it
would be really tragic if he died before Penny could find him. I'm not sure
that he has the fans that Hurley and Charlie do, so his death might not be
as emotionally powerful.

4. Blake Lewis
Oh, sorry, wrong show...

I can't help but think that there will be a death that will piss people off.
I just can't really think of anyone they could kill that would really piss
me off. Yeah, I would especially miss Ben, Juliet, Sayid and Sawyer, but if
they did decide to kill any of them I don't think it would piss me off, so
long as it wasn't poorly executed. I don't want any more smoke monster
deaths right now. I want shocking and cool. I want Rose brandishing a gun,
shooting Sayid between the eyes. Or Hurley pushing Sun off a cliff and
laughing about it.

Oh, Roger Work Man, if only you remembered birthdays!

Some thoughts before I go into my crazy theorizing:

#1: I think Ben's flashback gets the award for weirdest back story ever.

#2: The end of the episode COMPLETELY shocked me; my mouth was hanging open
for at least two minutes. I haven't decided if I think he's dead or not
because the last time a character was shot in the gut (Libby), I assumed she
was not dead, and I was wrong. I guess I'm hoping that he's dead, because I
thought it was a well-executed death. Although I love Terry O'Quinn and find
Locke frustratingly intriguing, so I wouldn't be annoyed if he pulled
through. I suppose time will tell. (But to never have interaction between
Michael Emerson and O'Quinn again would be criminal. They have more
chemistry than Evangeline Lilly and Matthew Fox have ever had.)

#3: I know I mentioned last week how well-coiffed Batmanuel (Richard)
appears, but damn, whatever Botox the Dharma Initiative produces must be
frickin' effective. (I don't know if they had Nestor Carbonell play
"younger" Richard so we would recognize the character or so we would think
that he doesn't age. If it's the former, I guess that messy hair was
supposed to symbolize adolescence, because Batmanuel can't be over 40, can
he?)

#4: Once again, Sayid is awesome in his small amount of screen time. Juliet
also. (And don't you think if it was just the two of them that Sayid would
actually have burned her at the stake just to get answers?) And I'm back on
the Jack Wagon. I can't wait for his flashback. I haven't liked him this
much since the very first episode.

#5: I'm curious as to the point of little Ben's girlfriend, Annie. Did he
spare her somehow? Could she be someone we have seen already? Libby? The
Sheriff? Jack's ex-wife? Maybe he got her pregnant as a teenager and she
went kaput, further solidifying him against Dharma.

#6: Really good casting of young Ben. He doesn't have Michael Emerson's bug
eyes, but he could easily pass as his son. Same chin, same profile almost.

#7, courtesy of Angela: You may have recognized Ben's Dad as Uncle Rico from
Napoleon Dynamite, but did you know that he also played the pre-wolf (as in
the human version) of the Wolfman in The Monster Squad? here.>

#8: I wonder how many of the (current) Others were Hostiles? Could the
Hostiles be survivors/spirits/descendants of crewmembers of the Black Rock?

#9: I am concerned about Rousseau taking a ton of dynamite on an island that
once had an active volcano, but maybe that's just me.

#10: Theorizing at this point (almost) feels fruitless, because I cannot
fully understand anyone's motivations at this point. That's not a
condemnation (yet), but I hope that in two weeks, I'll at least have a
better idea who's conning who. And I hope it's not the producers conning the
audience.


All of this leads me to Jacob, because that's all I could think about as I
tried to sleep last night and tried to work this morning.

Before I really get into it, I am reserving full judgment on Jacob right
now, because there is too much we don't know about him/her/it. Granted, if
it is a ghost, I have a feeling I am not going to like it, but I want to
wait until we learn a bit more.

Theory #1: Batmanuel is "Jacob" and he has been playing Ben and everyone
else for decades.

Evidence/Theorizing:

Young Ben meets Batmanuel when he leaves Dharma Town. Batmanuel tells him to
have patience, seemingly indicating that he has a plan. Years later, the
Purge is executed and Ben is installed as leader of the Hostiles because he
is a turncoat. Perhaps Batmanuel tells his people that Ben is the man behind
everything so they look up to him as leader.

Batmanuel "creates" Jacob and gets impressionable Ben to believe in Jacob.
Perhaps Batmanuel has control over Smokey and uses Smokey to appear as Jacob
to Ben. However he does it, he gains control over this obviously unstable
and abused young man and Ben believes that this Jacob lives in this shack in
the middle of the jungle. Maybe he thinks Jacob is a spirit (as evidenced by
the circle around Jacob's home - that reminded me of witchcraft).

If Jacob is Smokey, we already have seen that Ben is susceptible to the
Island's hallucinatory power (he saw his mother more than once). And if
Smokey is in league with/controlled by Batmanuel, that would be why Ben's
"mother" appeared outside the fences and told him that he had to wait or
that it wasn't time or something like that - in other words, have patience,
like Batmanuel tells him later. (I'm assuming here that Ben's mother was
Smokey and not just a simple hallucination.)

Batmanuel has shown his ability to manipulate in the past few weeks. He
convinced Locke that if he killed (got Sawyer to kill) his dad, he would be
one of them. He did the same with Ben and his dad. Perhaps he gave Locke the
tape recorder; after all, he was the one who brought it to Ben's attention
that it was missing.

So maybe Batmanuel is the "Man Behind the Curtain," but not even Ben knows
it because he had such a damaged childhood. He continues blindly following
Jacob, the truth obscured by the wounds from his younger life and his
delusions of grandeur (much like Locke, actually).

Maybe if this is true, I'll have to start calling Batmanuel by his "real"
name. But he'll always be Batmanuel to me.


Theory #2: The Island's "unique" properties have become an extension of
Ben's psyche

Evidence/Theorizing:

Ben was born in the seventh month of his mother's pregnancy and she died
giving birth to him (something his father never let him forget.) Women on
the island don't last past the second trimester, or around the 6th month of
their pregnancy.

I've got other ideas regarding this but I can't really put them into words.
Things related to Ben contending that his people are the "good" guys and the
Smoke Monster.

Factually, Ben was lying when he said that he was born on the Island.
However, when he showed up on the Island he was a bookish wallflower. The
Ben we know now is the leader of a cult. So maybe he wasn't actually born on
the Island, but Ben was formed by the Island. Maybe his relationship to the
Island has resulted in him putting his imprint on the Island as well.

In this case, I'm thinking that Jacob is just a further extension of Ben's
psyche, (perhaps Jacob is Smokey in this case as well), almost like a split
personality.


Other Jacob-relatedness:

If there is actually a human Jacob and he is not Batmanuel or in Ben's mind,
maybe he was in the hut and left after Ben's warning to set up the
Poltergeist-like activities. But if this all was just smoke and mirrors, why
did Ben shoot Locke? Did he shoot him in a way that he knows that he will
survive?

Did anyone see Jacob? (There was a quick flash of something, but I haven't
rewatched it yet. I have my further suspicions as to what/who it was, which
I will keep to myself until after the season is done.)

And now for something totally nonsensical:
Linus Van Pelt from Peanuts had the Great Pumpkin and Benjamin Linus from
Lost has the "Great" Jacob. Coincidence? Or further evidence that the whole
series hinges on Vincent? Discuss.

If I go to Hell, I bet Mohinder will be there‏

I think this week's Lost episode was more of a set-up episode than anything.
No crazy WTF moments, no cliffhangers, but a lot of foreshadowing.

Some stuff I loved:
- Josh Holloway was AWESOME. That was the best acting he has ever done on
this show. Especially the stuff with Cooper/RealSawyer.
- I don't necessarily like Jack, but in the past few weeks he has become so
much more interesting. I think the best scene of the night was when
StupidKate went and tattled on everyone else. I love that Jack and Juliet
act so superior to StupidKate. I bet that infuriates her. It's like they are
king and queen of the prom and StupidKate is Jack's dumpy ex-girlfriend or
Juliet's nerdy friend. (And not that we saw much of her this week, but I
still trust Juliet. But I don't necessarily trust Jack.)
- Sayid doesn't trust Jack. (Or really anyone.) Sayid is awesome. They
should have a whole episode of Sayid and Ben trying to get the upper hand on
one another. Lock them in a room and see who breaks first.
- Terry O'Quinn's nonchalance when he addressed Rousseau: "What brings you
to the Black Rock?" Not only did that serve to set up something for future
episodes, but it felt very much like Locke of season one. Actually, in much
of his interaction with Sawyer (James), Locke felt like the old Locke. Not
so much when he was being played by Ben. AGAIN.
- I liked that the episode was off-the-island flashback-free. I thought it
worked really well with this particular episode and wouldn't be upset if
they revisited this device periodically in the future. However, I really I
hope they don't abandon the traditional flashbacks next year, as I think
they really gives the show its meat and emotional power.


Other thoughts/conclusions:
- Even if Naomi is telling the truth, I don't think it would be too hard to
fake the results (especially by people with money) of a deep sea exploration
of a "crashed plane." I'm still hoping for multiple timelines though. Or
maybe she is just an Other and is executing another part of Ben's (or
Jacob's) Master Plan.
- I don't doubt that many people think that Cooper will come back to life,
but I'm not so sure. There's so much we don't know about the Island's
healing ability. I never thought Patchy was dead in the first place, so I'm
not so sure he actually came back to life. I could be wrong though. It would
not be the first (or last) time I read something wrong on this show.
- Ok, the tape recorder - Locke is just not that smooth. Why would Ben tell
him all that information about Juliet, about the raid on the beach, etc.?
Ben is not the "I must reveal my evil plan before it comes to fruition" type
of villain - he's the type that makes gullible assholes like Locke and Jack
think that he actually is that type of villain. BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Why
does Ben want the castaways to know that Juliet is a plant? Confusion? Is he
double-crossing Juliet in anticipation of her double-cross of him? Or was
all of this part of his original plan? And does Juliet know that this is
coming?
- Why is Richard so well coiffed? Nice hair, nice clothes, messenger bag.
It's like he has a personal stylist stashed somewhere on the Island.
- Wherever the Others were camping, it reminded me of the 4-toed statue.
- It seemed obvious that Cooper wanted to be killed, but why? Has he really
reached that point of complete self-loathing? Does he really think he's in
Hell?
- Who is more annoying: Kate or Locke? If Kate actually once stopped to
think about her actions before doing something, I think my head would
explode because I couldn't handle it. And Locke is just a whiny bitch of a
man when he's around people like Ben and Cooper. How could he not have
killed Cooper? For all intents and purposes, he was castrating him in front
of a crowd of strangers. Locke looked like he wanted to run behind a tree
and cry.

Next Wednesday won't get here soon enough - it is the long-awaited Ben
episode and I'm thinking that no matter what happens, I am going to love it.
Because the more Michael Emerson, the better.

And so begins my anti-Heroes rant of the week...

You know what I love about Lost? The shows creators are not shy about their
outside influences. While the show as a whole is certainly a unique TV
concept in design and execution, from the beginning the producers have
explicitly stated (and subtly imply within episodes) that they have been
influenced by a number of science fiction and pop culture icons.

And I know by now you have guessed (if you didn't already know) that the
exact opposite approach has been taken by the creator of Heroes. The dude's
name is Tim Kring and he has stated more than once that he has never picked
up a comic in his life (which I can't fault him for), but that because of
that, all of the ideas that he came up with for Heroes were not influenced
by ANYTHING ELSE. Now I can't even go into the argument that the world of
entertainment hasn't come up with a truly original idea in at least ten
years (just other ways of presenting it), but it is just so fucking arrogant
of the creator of this show saying that he is in no way influenced by comic
books.

After last week's obvious Watchmen overtones, this week was ripped right
from the X-Men Days of Future Past storyline (and I'm not even that familiar
with the latter - only what I remember from the cartoon and some
supplemental reading I have done). I have no problem with someone paying
homage to other material that influenced them, but to say that they are your
own ideas is bordering on plagiarism.

Anyway, I already told Joe that this week's episode game me a headache, so
here are a few reasons why. Answer my queries if you can, please. Prove me
wrong, please. (Just don't tell be I'm being over-analytical, because that
is a fruitless argument with me.)

1. Why does Peter - who has regenerative powers - have a scar? (I don't know
why I didn't think of this question until this week.)

2. Sylar, who we have seen is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, manages
to keep his secret for years? I can see him duping Mohinder, but Parkman? He
can read minds! And how could Sylar as Nathan even be around the Haitian
when the Haitian can block powers?!?

3. Why can PresentHiro suddenly understand English fluently? And why does
FutureHiro have no trace of an accent?

4. I can't even begin to question the time travel aspect of the show,
because it makes little to no sense. Two Hiros makes no sense in the
equation that they have created. Their whole idea of time travel in regard
to Hiro makes no sense.

5. Niki/Jessica survives? Why? All the groping and kissing she and Peter did
made me feel even dirtier when I remembered that she already slept with
Nathan. Yuck.

6. Not really a question, but: The 9/11 overtones were very uncomfortable
(and as misplaced as anything this show has ever done), but I don't recall
watching the news every year since 2001 and seeing Bin Laden's picture pop
up on the screen like the news in the future did with Sylar.

7. Did anyone else notice that Mohinder developed a super power of his own
this week? (Other than killing every scene that he is in.) He has the
ability to lengthen and shorten his facial hair at will when he walks
between rooms. (Or Heroes just has a really bad makeup crew.)

8. Also not a question: I know not everyone pays attention to stuff like
this, but Zachary Quinto (Sylar) had his name in the opening credits, so I
was waiting for him to show up at some point in the episode and figured that
he wasn't dead. It lessened my surprise when he was revealed to be
fauxNathan. What could have been a real shock, was just a "huh" moment for
me. (But Adrian Pasdar was really good in the episode, because as I was
watching fauxNathan, I kept thinking that something was really off about
him.)

Funny thing is, I still have no plans to stop watching the show. So this
headache is self-inflicted. At least I have all my other TV shows to give me
respite.

That's a lotta sperm!

I don't know if it was quite as great as the past two weeks, but I still don't think I can really find anything from last night's episode to complain about. (Except maybe Mikhail's patch still looking as brand new as the day he bought it from the costume shop.)

The very best thing about last night was Yunjin Kim. The show has finally managed to feature an actress who can hold her own in scenes with Elizabeth Mitchell. I loved every single scene of theirs together. What I learned from Sun and Juliet this week:
- I still trust Juliet
- I am glad that the baby is Jin's (Or I am glad that Sun thinks that the baby is Jin's...maybe I don't have complete trust in Juliet.)

And I thought that the flashbacks were one of the most compelling flashbacks the show has ever given us. Not because it was especially informative or revealing in term's of the Island story, but because helped to illustrate yet another level in Jin and Sun's already complex relationship. By trying to protect Jin's honor, she in effect caused the thing that would ultimately doom their relationship (pre-crash). She gave her father a reason to hire Jin, which changed him from the guy we saw in the flashbacks this week. And it also gave more emotional impact to the reveal that he is the baby's father. (I also think Korean is a very poetic language, so I love watching Jin and Sun's flashbacks for that reason alone.)

Speaking of Jin, I think Daniel Dae Kim's acting often gets lost in the language barrier, and it's too bad because he was really fantastic last night, both in the past and on the island.

For the past two weeks, Charlie has not been nearly as annoying as he was the past season and a half. Making him more sympathetic will give greater impact if/when they kill him. (He has a flashback the week before the finale, I believe.)

So Jack was really weird this week. I don't know if I really have anything to say about other than his conversation with Sun made me squirm a little.

And I am thrilled that Mikhail has been raised from the supposed dead. (In relation to his appearance, I am glad to see that all of the castaways are talking, maybe finally realizing that Jack was right when he speechified about "live together, die alone.")

I'm guessing that how a character "dies" is important. Almost similar to Claire/Peter on Heroes, in that if the cause of death is removed, perhaps you can be cured.

I still really want to like Heroes, but I still really don't. While Lost can be frustrating at times with its lack of answers, I'd rather have questions than pedestrian explanations for everything. And I'd also like the show to really, really shock me. Come out of left field with something instead of being excruciatingly telegraphed. I hope Mohinder is the exploding man. Actually, I just hope Mohinder explodes into a million boring, monotone pieces. And Jesus Christ, how did he transport a "dead" body across Manhattan?!? Come on!

Anyway, if you looked at Mikhail, he actually still had blood in his ears, so he was harmed in some way. We never saw them check him after he collapsed, right? They could have just assumed he was dead. (Which would have been stupid, especially for Sayid, but I'll overlook that because the show has been so fantastic recently.)

I haven't been able to find a definite translation of what paratrooper (according to ABC, her name is Naomi) said to Patchy that he translated as "Thank you," but I'm willing to bet it wasn't that. The closest translations I have found were that she was speaking Portuguese and said something like "I am not alone."

Of course, that WTF ending...My immediate theory (and the 'Occum's Razor' answer) is that the crash of 815 in the real world was a set-up and that the real 815 was brought to that island by Jacob or Ben or Hanso or whoever. I am sure with the great resources of Widmore/Hanso/Dharma/Paik a cover-up would not be that difficult at all. However if it is something to this effect, my first question is where exactly did Ben send Michael and Walt? I don't really need to know now, but that is something that definitely must be addressed at some point before the series ends.

If not that, I go back to my "there are other worlds than this" theory of Lost, which I actually like better. And that hearkens back to Desmond's flashback in February ('Flashes Before Your Eyes') which I originally saw not as an argument for time travel, but for time branching. And if that is the case, maybe the purple sky incident shifted their place in time and the people on flight 815 really are dead in this branch that they are in now. It's also a device used in many of Stephen King's books and the producers are admitted King fans and originally were said to be very influenced by The Stand, which actually takes place on Earth, but in a separate dimension/world from the "real" world.

And now that I'm thinking about this, I cannot help but think of King's opus, The Dark Tower series (which is tied closely to The Stand). I don't really want to get into that (because only Angela will understand and I could probably write for days), but in my head, it's REALLY interesting.

Desmond Hume, the runaway bride (Or is he?)‏

Two episodes in a row in which I have nothing to complain about. That
picture on the monk's desk (I'll get to that later) maybe even made this
episode more enjoyable than last week's for me.

Since I have nothing to complain about, I feel certain that Jess also should
have nothing to complain about, after all, Sawyer did confirm that Bernard
is still around. And your big complaint from last week is that you didn't
know what happened to Penny. Now we know that she is still looking for
Desmond. So the only problem you might have with this episode is the
Kate-Sawyer sex. Though knowing your obsession with couples on certain
shows, I guess that might be a problem for you.

Speaking of Kate, that scene between her and Jack was so super awkward and
so enjoyable, all I could think was that the only way he's gonna notice her
again is if she gets in some kinda trouble and he takes it upon himself to
fix her problem. Loved the spoon-licking. Awesome.

And Sawyer was really on his game this week. He had a bunch of great
moments: calling the Others perverts; "You two arguing over who's your
favorite Other?"; beating Jack at ping-pong and "We don't play every 108
minutes, the island's gonna explode." If nothing else, the abduction was
great for Jack and Sawyer's relationship. (At least for now.)

So, onto Desmond...

The opening if the episode was awesome. It is too bad it was a flash
forward, because that would have been such a ballsy way to kill off Charlie
- completely unexpected and shocking. And even after the reveal that it was
a flash, and even though I was 99% sure that Des wasn't going to let Charlie
die, I was still a little on edge. How cool would it have been if the arrow
got Jin or Hurley after Desmond pushed Charlie?

The obvious significance of "Catch-22" applying directly to Desmond's life
(lives?) is the circularity of it all and that was very nicely illustrated
in the flashbacks. Also it hearkens to the ongoing fate vs. free will motif
of the show. How much free will does anyone on the show have (Desmond
especially)? Did he actually change the future by saving Charlie? If Charlie
had died, would the parachutist have been Penny? If that's true, that's
certainly a strong argument for free will.

"Ardil-22" (the name of the book in the parachutist's bag) is Portuguese for
"Catch-22." In last season's finale, those guys who noticed the "event" were
speaking in Portuguese.

And not just Desmond's life, but the show as a whole is almost a catch-22 at
times. Not just the circularity and the deja vu of it all, but the "damned
if they do, damned if they don't" position that the producers and writers
always seem to be in.

So, onto my absolute favorite part of the episode, something so small and so
easily missed, but something I see as incredibly important in the grand
scheme of Lost: that picture on the monk's desk. In the picture was the monk
himself and Mrs. Hawking, the jewelry store salesperson. Whereas from
Desmond's last fantastic episode, she could be explained away as part of his
subconscious, I think last night's episode points to her as a very real part
of their world, regardless of her actions in "Flashes Before Your Eyes."
(Especially because the audience saw the picture, and not Desmond.) To me,
it means that for whatever reason, Desmond was pushed to the Island for
quite some time and it also places a great amount of question on Penelope.

So, this is how I see it: spineless Desmond with a massive case of cold feet
(just like Jack!), goes out for a night of drinking and passes out on the
street, the monk finds him and Desmond finds his "calling." (By the way,
Desmond's ex calling him out on his quick change of heart: "Good thing it
wasn't a shepherd who helped you up!" An allusion to Jack? Or Christian?)
Anyway, Desmond is just glad that he's managed to avoid making a commitment
that he thinks he belongs with the monks. He takes his vow of silence (just
like Locke when he wanted to 'reconnect' with the Island!) and the monk
calls him "one of us" (just like Juliet!). However, he soon realizes that he
cannot commit to them either and the Head Monk fires him, but not before he
tells him that he has to help load some wine into a truck driven by Penelope
Widmore. And we all know that it's because of Penny and her father (and
possibly Ms. Hawking) that Desmond eventually ends up on the Island, and is
thus stuck with the ultimate commitment that he cannot seem to escape.
That's really crappy karma.

Looking at it this way, isn't his life the ultimate catch-22? If he marries
the first girl, if he stays a monk, if he stays with Penny, he (presumably)
damns the world, himself included. He doesn't do any of that, but ends up
damned anyway, and is forced to relive all of these events ad nauseam.
(Whether in flashes or just in memories.)

But anyway, I loved Desmond and Penny's first meeting and like I mentioned,
it adds even more dimension to Penny's character. Of course, she could have
been an unwitting pawn too, but I can't help but assume sinister
motivations. Maybe halfway through her assigned part in Desmond's life, she
changed her mind and that's why she is hunting for him now. I personally
think that since Penny was left as the scorned woman, no matter how much she
loved him, why would she go to so much trouble (3 years!) to find someone
who left her and by that does not care for her as much as she cares for him?
I think that the guilt she feels in being complicit in his arrival on the
Island would be a great motivator.

I've written all this nonsense and still didn't comment on the very
Tarrantino-esque pop culture conversation of the Flash vs. Superman or the
hilarity that was Jin's ghost story.

There are only four episodes left until the finale, I think. It really seems
like it's building to something fantastic. I just hope it more like last
year's finale and not the cop-out that was the first season finale.

And I still hope Charlie dies. (I also think I'd be upset if they killed
Jack, so now is a good time to do it before I hate him again.)

And I hope we see Vincent again. (Maybe he is Jacob? Where exactly does that
dog go when we don't see him?)

They're not bad; they're just drawn that way.‏

I don't think there is one thing that I disliked about last night's episode.
It answered questions, created some more, developed characters and featured
the best acting I have ever seen on Lost. Honestly, I know I've gushed about
Elizabeth Mitchell in previous emails, but she's really, really good.
(Especially after last week's average episode centered around the decent
acting of Evangeline Lilly.) Those couple of scenes with Ben - the first
with the news of his tumor and then in Mikhail's bunker - were riveting.

And even after the reveal at the end of the episode, I'm still with Jack (I
don't think I've ever said that). To an extent, I trust Juliet in a way that
I never trusted Henry Gale. (I call him Henry Gale because I think Henry and
Ben are two very different characters.) While I think they are setting up
Juliet as Henry Gale 2.0, ultimately, I think she's not really on Ben's team
or Jack's team; she's on Juliet's team.

And related to Juliet's motives, what if Jack is in on it too? Or what if he
was brainwashed a la Karl in Room 23? His explanation to Kate about keeping
his head down and doing what he was told seemed odd to me. I mean Jack's
never been Sayid with the questions, but I find it hard to believe that he
was there for days and never asked any questions to Juliet or Tom. Also,
it's gotta be at least 2 months since Claire's abduction and he didn't
question Juliet on the withdrawal symptoms. An episode that makes Jack
interesting again is something special.

So according to Juliet, women who get pregnant die, but Ben (or Jacob) can
seemingly sure cancer. And Juliet's there to fix the pregnant women dying
thing, and has had success only with Claire. But the Others still want
pregnant women, so does that mean that Kate could be pregnant? (As in they
orchestrated her and Sawyer's 'incident')

Is Sun's life in danger? Technically, if Juliet is telling the truth and if
Sun conceived while off the Island, then she's in the same boat as Claire
was. But if Jin is the father and they conceived on the Island, what does
that mean? Is the cure of cancer related to the decline in heath caused by
pregnancy?

Could there be another spy in the camp? Obviously, we don't know why Juliet
has infiltrated the castaways, but one guess would be because Sun is
pregnant. Who knows about that? Sun, Jin, Kate, Sawyer (he gave her the
pregnancy test) and maybe Jack.

Wouldn't it be awesome if Juliet killed Charlie? Or even better, if a
brainwashed Jack did? That would just turn everything upside down. Whatever
happens with Juliet and Jack, I think last week setting up Sawyer as leader
of the camp will become more important.

If I was stuck on the Island of Tortured Souls with those castaways, I'd
wanna be good friends with Sayid. Does anyone besides Ben have better
instincts then that guy? Especially during the last few episodes, they've
been focusing on what a great judge of character he is, especially compared
to everyone else. I wonder if that will become more important, or if it is
just there to reinforce his character.

I liked Batmanuel in the previous episodes that he's been in, but I thought
he was especially good last night. He's a different kind of creepy. Not
Ben-creepy or Ethan-creepy, he's got this smarmy nastiness about him that
really came across well last night. His nonchalance at telling Juliet that
he just put tranquilizer in her OJ was perfectly played.

While I never really had a problem with the first 6 episodes of the season,
I think that, regardless of how you feel, it was all worth it for that great
reunion scene. I especially enjoyed Sawyer and Jack reuniting. (And I think
Sawyer's description of Ben as a "bug-eyed bastard" was pretty apt.)

What may go down as my favorite line of the season: "I had the day off."
(Juliet to Hurley)

Is Jacob real? Is he a 'deity' of Ben's creation that everyone thinks is
real? (Maybe it's an acronym: Just Another Codename Of Ben's)

What I keep coming back to is Ben's line to Michael at the end of last
season: "We're the good guys." I obviously don't really know what that
means, but I do believe that Ben really believes it. While the Others may be
manipulative and potentially dangerous, I think they have (Ben has) a good
reason for not giving full disclosure. Since the beginning of this season, I
have been given no concrete reason to believe that the Others are as EVIL as
the castaways seem to think they are. Sure, they are cryptic and mysterious
(and the show wouldn't be as awesome if they weren't), but what bad have
they done to the castaways? All the bad that has happened has been the
castaways doing, one way or the other. The Others? Not so much.

Ethan - If Juliet's telling the truth, by kidnapping Claire he saved her
life.

Pickett - He seemed kinda mean, but he was out for personal vengeance and
was motivated by anger.

Goodwin - He was just gathering information.

Mikhail, Ms. Klugh, Batmanuel - I have yet to see them do anything terrible.
If anything, they were/are just acting the part given to them.

Tom - Pretty much all smoke and mirrors with him, since he seems to be the
nicest of all the Others.

Henry/Ben - His manipulations have lead to some poor outcomes, but he wasn't
holding Michael's hand when he shot Ana and Libby.

Juliet - I think she's more of a victim, so I don't even consider her an
Other.


Oh, and does anyone else think that Juliet did not get to the Island via the
submarine? That might just be my latent conspiracy theorist talking. I feel
like I have to question every answer the show gives me.

Damn, Jack!‏

So, I apologize for not emailing you guys earlier. I've been so disinterested in 24 these past few weeks that I actually waited until Tuesday night to watch this week's episode. And maybe it's my lowered expectations, or the return of Keifer as star of the show, but I actually thought this week's episode was pretty good. The ratio of 50% over-the-top Keifer, 25% CTU absurdity and 25% Presidential nonsense worked this week. I still have absolutely no interest in anything going on at CTU. I thought the ol' switcheroo with Fayed was pretty obvious (especially after they "killed" Jack), but the joy of seeing Jack ride under a garbage truck and the glee on his face as his hung Fayed from the chains (and his parting words) was glorious. And his confrontation with the terrorists (still from parts unknown, of course) was the perfect ridiculousness I expect from 24. The best thing I can say about 24 this season is that they've had two really good reveals at the end of episodes: first with Logan (where is he?) and now with Audrey. (Side Note: Why would the Chinese ever give her up? She's gotta be the ideal political prisoner: she'd crack real easy under pressure, she's the daughter of a prominent politician and she's a member of the U.S. Department of Defense.) Those Chinese have great timing though, right? Last season grabbing Jack just as he's about to be reunited with Audrey and now having Audrey call Jack just as he saves L.A.

I wish Kate had been buried alive‏

The main thing I came away with this week: If they wanted me to dislike Kate
even more than I already did, they succeeded.

I've never really been the biggest Kate fan - especially when related to her
romantic entanglements - but maybe that's because I don't understand why
Jack or Sawyer would want to get involved with someone so annoying, no
matter how attractive she is. She was at least interesting when the series
began, because we didn't know anything about her, but now, like Jack, I feel
like they are beating a dead horse every time they have a Kate flashback. Do
we really need an episode that tells us that Kate is selfish and has no
self-awareness? Now, I'm not entirely opposed to more Kate (or Jack)
flashbacks, but if the flashbacks are used to illuminate character traits,
maybe they shouldn't be wasted on such paper thin characters.

And I as much as I am intrigued by Juliet and want to see more of her, I was
hoping that the monster would kill both of them, just so I wouldn't have to
deal with Kate anymore.

I guess my other problem was with the actress that plays Cassidy, Kim
Dickens. She was a regular on Deadwood, and I don't really get her as an
actress - she talks in a monotone, almost deadpan voice all the time. I
guess that works for some people cuz she keeps getting work, but for me, it
detaches from whatever she is trying to do. The woman who played Juliet's
sister (Robin Weigert) was also on Deadwood (and actually shared a lot of
screen time with Dickens) and I hated her on Deadwood, and found her to be
exceptionally distracting, but thought she was quite good in Juliet's
episode. I mean, Kim Dickens is no Bai Ling, but she's no William Mapother
(Ethan) either.

Hey, we got definite confirmation that the baby is Sawyer's, so that's
something, I guess.

Also, mud wrestling? Cat fights? Seriously? Are they really that hard up for
the horny male vote?

But there were things I liked:
- The crazy look in Locke's eyes when he talked with Kate.
- Juliet getting the drop on Kate with her crazy kung fu moves
- Juliet having the key all along
- The Others don't understand the monster, but are aware of it
- After Kate cries and apologizes to Jack, he asks about Juliet. Awesome.
- The stuff with Hurley and Sawyer, but only because it was "the lamest con
in the history of cons." If they were actually going to exile him, well that
would be stupider than trusting Ben.
- Is Ben playing mind games with Juliet by leaving her behind or is he
screwing with Jack, Kate and Sayid? Is she Henry Gale v. 2.0?

I think there are a lot of basic similarities in characters of Locke and
Kate. But while Locke is awfully frustrating at times, at least he remains
interesting and he doesn't lie to himself. He lies to everyone else on the
island, but he knows his motives are selfish and that everything is does is
for his advantage. Does Kate really think that she went back to save Jack
for Jack's sake? How could anyone still have such little self awareness,
especially after everyone else is telling her otherwise: Sawyer, Sayid, Jack
and Juliet?

It wasn't bad, but I hope things pick up again next week.

Razzle Dazzle!‏

For characters that I didn't really care about, I enjoyed this episode a
zillion times more than the last Jack episode, so that's saying something.

The episode itself was almost like a Twilight Zone/Tales from the Crypt
episode - especially the ending. (You reap what you sow; What goes around
comes around; etc.) And it was super meta, too, with all the crazy nudge,
nudge, wink, wink at the audience. ("It's like the most awesome hour of
television ever!"; having Nikki talk about being a guest character that gets
killed off; Paolo being described as "the Wolfgang Puck of Brazil" when
Rodrigo Santoro, in everything I've read about him is described as "the Tom
Cruise of Brazil.")

At the very least, it was a fun nostalgia episode. I don't really miss Boone
or Shannon - but it was kinda fun seeing them, especially when she accused
him of flirting with Paolo. More flashbacks with Ethan I'm always happy with
as well. (Good to see Arzt again, too.) And the editing (especially the
plane crash scene) was really well done. (Although Maggie Grace's bad wig
was really distracting.)

The opening flashback was probably my favorite part of the episode. From
Lando playing himself to the "Razzle Dazzle!" karate chop...fantastic. And
Kiele Sanchez is the most believable when she's playing a struggling TV
actress.

And my favorite quote of the evening came from Sawyer: "There's a forensics
hatch I don't know about?"

But ultimately, they got what they deserved, and I don't feel bad that they
died. It sucks that they were buried alive, but if Nikki was smart enough to
listen to Arzt when he said that a bite from the spider would paralyze a
person, but stupid enough to forget that he also said that the spider's
pheromones are like a homing beacon, sucks for her. And if Paolo wasn't such
a douche and had maybe mentioned that he overheard Ben and Juliet, Ana Lucia
and Libby would probably still be alive and the castaways might have had the
upper hand on the Others for once. (Though it was revisionist history, so
that's not really the strongest argument.)

Speaking of Ben and Juliet, we at least got some answers to their (his)
motivations. And was I the only one who thought of Pinky and the Brain when
Juliet asked Ben how he was gonna get Jack to help him: "Same thing I always
do - find out what he's emotionally invested in and exploit that." And I
wouldn't be surprised if world domination was somewhere in the back of Ben's
mind.

I was also happy to see another appearance by Vincent, who, once again, is
the only one on the show with half a brain, as shown when he removed the
blanket off the "corpses." How long till we see what he's been up to for the
past 80 days? He's probably made more headway than anyone else in
discovering the Island's secrets.

I was afraid that Nikki and Paulo would become more important - the
producers had said that they would turn out to be "iconic" characters. I
hope they were lying and we'll never see them again. The episode was
enjoyable with a number of laughs and some small revelations. I'm ok with
the show doing filler episodes - they have to in a 22-24 episode season - so
long as they are like this one and the Hurley episode: light and fluffy and
of slight importance to the bigger picture.

And the show finally answered a question that has been plaguing viewers
since the first season: How come we never see any of the other castaways on
the beach? The answer, of course, is because they don't really matter.

So although there was not really much in the grand mythology scheme of Lost
in this episode, I came across this question the other day and found it to
be quite thought-provoking:

Last week, why was Locke wet when the Others and Jack approached him?

My 5 Step Plan for 24‏

Now, I wasn't going to email you guys today, because I thought last night's episode wasn't really worth it. But I was thinking about it this morning and I realized that it was probably the weirdest episode of 24 that I have ever seen. I'm yearning for the good ol' days of 24 when leaps of logic meant that Jack nearly died in one episode and was up and about in the next. Right now, leaps in logic involve the introduction of Rain Man (and the softer side of Kiefer), the continued craziness that is the vice president and the miraculous recovery of faux-President Palmer (he went from crashing to lucid in less than 5 minutes), the repeated references to the events in CTU: Denver, and that wacky kiss between Milo and Nadia. The kiss is what sent me over the edge. Wasn't it just 12 hours ago that Milo and Morris were having a pissing contest over Chloe? How did they get from that to Chloe saying that EVERYBODY knows that Milo has a thing for Nadia? So, here is my 5 step plan that could have improved last night's episode:1. After kissing Nadia, Milo collapses on the floor, dead because Nadia had just put on poisonous lipstick. After his collapse, Nadia picks him up and hides his body in the men's room. She then grabs her phone, and calls...2. President Logan, who not only faked his almost-death two weeks ago, but has taken down and killed the men that were tending to him in the ambulance. He now speaks with a Russian accent and calls himself Boris Duvenko, and reveals that his plan is moving forward, a plan that was initiated to avenge the death of his daughter...3. Nina Myers, who even though she died years ago, has been preserved in a large tube filled with formaldehyde. Duvenko/Logan tells Nadia to commence the second phase of their plan. She runs to her computer and inputs some codes. We then cut to a dirty cellar, a small ray of sunlight shining in through a small window near the ceiling. A caption at the bottom of the screen identifies this location as...4. Beijing, China. The camera immediately moves to the legs of a chair in which a prisoner is tied. The camera slowly moves up, revealing that the prisoner is none other than Jack Bauer! He opens his eyes and asks "How?" to his interrogator, someone he knows very well...5. It is his wife Teri, long thought dead. She reveals through a long scene of exposition how after he left her lifeless body, Nina took her and nursed her back to heath. Together they raised millions of dollars on the black market and started their own company, producing artificial intelligence. She also notes that their first prototype, the Bauer 2400, has been sent in his place to America and is not only an evil robot, but in its core is a nuclear warhead. She also reveals that Gredenko and Fayed knew about her evil plan and they have been attempting to destroy the Bauer 2400 for the last 12 hours because they are good, misunderstood terrorists and do not want to see America devastated again. Jack stares at her, open-mouthed as the episode comes to an end...

Dick in a Box

So, yeah I saw the push coming (but it was still viscerally shocking) and I
saw the end reveal coming (I think they should have saved the 'Man from
Tallahassee' line until the very end of the episode - like "Let's take him
to the Man from Tallahassee."), but still another really good episode from
the second half of the season.

The one thing that REALLY bothered me about last night's episode was the
plan for 'rescuing' Jack. How could Kate not figure on cameras? Is she
kidding? I could not believe that her plan was to just walk into Jack's new
house. And I guess I can't really be disappointed in Sayid if Kate didn't
tell him about the cameras, but he should be smarter than that. I've really
been fluctuating with Kate these past few weeks - sometimes she seems shrewd
and other times she doesn't think at all.

I hope Jack really gives her the cold shoulder after this latest incident.
Of course, he'll probably be more pissed at Locke because he didn't really
like Locke already, but ultimately it's Kate's fault. He told her not to
come.

Outside of Locke's first flashback with the fantastic wheelchair reveal, has
he ever had a flashback where he was not duped by someone? Has there ever
been anyone in the existence of mankind that has been screwed over so many
times, but still seems to inherently trust everyone he meets? I mean,
obviously, as I mentioned in past weeks, he can't read people (The only time
he was able to read someone accurately was with Charlie and the drugs. And I
think Charlie drug habit was obvious to Vincent, so that's not saying much.)
But how is it that he is not overly suspicious of everyone that he ever
encounters? If I had my kidney stolen, I don't think I'd look at anyone the
same way again, let alone the man who did the stealing. But Locke keeps
giving him chance after chance. Why? That kid comes to me, first thing I do
is call the cops. If I was shrewder, I would consider blackmailing the con
artist, but that's obviously not Locke's forte, so he should have been on
the phone with the cops right away.

Anyway, it has never been definitively established that Anthony Cooper
actually is Locke's dad, right? I don't remember exactly, but I got the
impression that he probably wasn't his father in past episodes. But with all
the con man references last night (Cooper must have called himself that at
least 3 times during the episode) I was reminded of something that was
floating around my brain the last time we saw him - could he be the original
Sawyer that James Ford got his name from?

Back to Locke's gullibility - how could he possibly believe that Cooper
would let him call that woman? Geez, faith is one thing that, in some cases,
can be admirable, but what is it gonna take for Locke to get past his blind
faith in everything and everyone? Does he now believe that he came to the
island to make peace with his father figure? And it's not that I necessarily
blame him for his paralysis, but why would he stand in front of a
ceiling-to-floor window in the home of a man who he believed to be capable
of murder?

My favorite stuff in the episode was all the interaction between Ben and
Locke. Now that is a couple worth rooting for. And my favorite line (and
delivery of said line) was given by Ben about the hamsters running in the
wheel to generate electricity. I gotta rewatch that and write the line down.
But Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn were absolutely fantastic in their
scenes together and O'Quinn was great throughout - showing great range,
making his flashbacks particularly effective and believable, quite similar
to the way I felt about Sayid's two weeks ago.

And I don't know who the king of the Others is if it's not Ben (maybe it's
that Jacob that's been referred to), but he must be quite a shrewd operator
if he ranks above the master manipulator that Ben is. That guy always knows
what to say, all the time. He is the anti-Locke - one look at you with those
crazy bug eyes and he's read you like a book. Not that it mattered if Ben
was playing Locke or not, probably the only thing that he could have told
him that would have prevented him from blowing up the sub was that he had
Cooper tied up in a box. (And was I the only one that thought that Locke
gazing into the sub before blowing it up was meant to echo him looking into
Desmond's hatch at the end of season one?)

Speaking of that crazy box, was Ben speaking literally or figuratively? And
what's that about anyway? Was he saying it knowing who he had tied up,
knowing that Locke would go ahead and believe that Cooper just appeared out
of a box because it is Locke's worst fear? Even to me, a magic box seems a
little far fetched. I'm much more comfortable with time travel than a magic
wishing box. But I'm probably getting ahead of myself, because it was Ben
that told the story and the first time he tells any story, he tends to
stretch the truth to his needs.

I do wonder how long Cooper has been there, and if he is actually a
prisoner. Maybe this whole island thing is a big long con to get Hurley to
give up his millions of dollars and Cooper is the orchestrator of it all.
(I'm kidding about this one, I think.)

So I wasn't expecting Batmanuel to show up on the Island, at least not so
soon. That actually surprised me. (What's his name Richard? Robert?) And
like I mentioned earlier, I kinda figured that Daddy Locke was the Man from
Tallahassee, but the reveal was still cool.

Matt, I don't know if you watched Alias at the end of its first season (Ang
will get my reference), but when Locke looked into the room and said "Dad?"
I immediately thought of when Sydney discovered her mother was alive and
uttered a similar desperate-sounding "Mom?" (though she was the one tied up
at that point).

So after I wrote all this, like I usually do, I read a couple of online
reviews/reactions to see if there was anything that I missed and still
wanted to comment on. What I found on one message board, I've copied and
pasted below because I found it particularly amusing and wished that I had
come up with it on my own (excuse the typos, I copied it exactly as it
appeared):

"Kate is beginning to remind me of the girl you are trying to drop, who
continues to show up on your doorstep relentlessly after you have tried all
the "It's not you, it's me" guff and moved through "don't bother coming
after me anymore" - when he saw her yet again appeared to look at him with
those drowned-puppy eyes, I could see that it was beginning to dawn on him
that in order to get her to leave him alone, is actually going to have to
kill her. That's the episode I can't wait to see. I hope he uses a hammer. I
hope we get to see it right up close and personal."

Audrey's better off if she's dead‏

My problem with commenting on 24 this season (at least compared to all the emails you got from me last year) is that I feel like every email would be me saying the same thing week after week, and I already said it to you in my last email: This season makes me miss Kim Bauer and her ridiculous hijinks. Because as stupid a character and as poor of an actress as Kim usually was, her storylines made even the poorest of storylines on 24 look better. Tony Almeida sacrificing the country to save his wife? Hey that makes sense because Kim is babysitting Chase's baby while she works combating terrorists! Terrorists infiltrating CTU and setting off nerve gas? Perfectly logical because Kim hates her dad and is dating a therapist played by C. Thomas Howell!! Without Kim, the show really shows itself as just mediocre. Especially when Kiefer is relegated to second fiddle behind Ricky Schroeder. And when they insist on bring back Sister in Law Bauer who REALLY wants to have sex with Kiefer RIGHT NOW! And when she is the one who tells him about Audrey (who obviously isn't dead anyway). Why would she have "read in the newspaper" about an American killed in China and remember that random American's name and then make the connection between her and Kiefer when she hadn't even heard from Kiefer in years? (I can't decide who is worse of an actor: Mrs. Horny Bauer or Milo the Mole) Other frustrations from last night: Why do the terrorists use an Atari gaming system to control the drones? What is Vice President Cy Tolliver's motivation? He seems like he's auditioning for a role in a remake of Dr. Strangelove. Is it so obvious that Nadia is a red herring that she will actually turn out to be the mole? (My money is still on Milo.) And after all these years of CTU Los Angeles having moles, don't you think they would do something about their screening process? Why did they almost kill President Logan last week if it wasn't even mentioned this week? Why did they even bring him back if all they were going to do is stab him in the neck? All this and I haven't even mentioned Karen Hayes wanting to take Pretty Boy Palmer out of his coma and the unwelcome return of whiny Sister Palmer. The only thing I have really enjoyed about the last two weeks (and last week was better than this week, because Mrs. Logan is still as crazy as ever and Jean Smart still plays crazy well) was Chloe's slight return to form. Last week it was her "ambivalence" toward Logan and this week, the best part of the episode was her kissing Morris.

A Flock of Seagulls

So, the most annoying thing about last night's episode was the damn "Dancing
with the Stars" promo. At one point, it looked like there were people
dancing in the horizon and I found it very distracting.

I the problem with last night was the reveal that Christian is Claire's
daddy. The only reason that I see it as a slight problem is because they
backed themselves into this corner almost a year ago and people have been
talking about the very real possibility of Jack and Claire's related-ness
since. If Christian wasn't her father, it would have been a really annoying
red herring. As it is, it was nice to have confirmation, but very
anti-climactic. I think the situation itself (much like the situation with
Rousseau and Alex) is a bit of a catch-22, but they chose the lesser of 2
evils in this case. Basically, they only way it could have been handled
better is in the past (especially since the producers know that their fan
base is made up of crazies and conspiracy theorists). But hey, I think
Claire looks much better as a brunette, so the flashback gets points for
that.

So that's really the only "eh" I felt about last night. I think with the
last two weeks of bringing Sayid and Claire back into the ensemble (and
allowing both of them to actually act, something they both did very well)
has made the show stronger, and is coming closer to finding the right
balance between flashback and present day action that is what made most of
season one so captivating.

That said, I think the cast could use some trimming. I thought Rose and
Bernard were fun to have around, but unless they head in the direction of
the Island's healing powers (which I think Locke would like to avoid), I
don't really think they need to show up anymore. I hope after Nikki and
Paulo prove their importance, they will have something to do other than be a
distraction. While I don't hate them, I don't really see their point.

The problem with the show is that they create too many interesting
characters and there's not enough time to utilize all of them enough. What I
think the show was correct in doing was killing Ms. Klugh last week and
killing Patchy this week. While I found both of them very interesting, with
them dead, that is (pretty much) the end of their story, so (presumably) we
can now focus on other interesting characters. I don't know what they are
going to do about interaction with the Others and the beach dwellers in the
future, but here's how I think they should move forward:

Keep:
Jack (Just no more flashbacks, please)
Sawyer (Because like Hurley, he provides levity and is far more interesting
than Hugo himself)
Sayid (Because he's a soldier, a leader, is logical and usually thinks
before acting)
Locke (Because he's so frustratingly interesting)
Desmond (I'd kill Jack before I'd kill Desmond)
Juliet (Because she's the only interesting female lead on the show)
Ben (Because we haven't seen a Ben flashback yet)
Tom (Even though he is peripheral, I think he serves to humanize the Others)
Vincent (The dog has to survive, like in Independence Day - which,
incidentally, is the only thing I remember about that movie)


Probably Keep:
Kate (But only because they've killed too many girls)
Claire (Unless the Others get Aaron, she probably has to stick around)
Hurley (I like him, I just wish he was more interesting. And there's really
no reason to kill him.)
Jin & Sun (I'd say kill one of them, but I don't really see the point in
that and I like to see how they've grown as a couple on the Island)
Rose & Bernard (But only as peripheral, rarely seen characters - we don't
need anther flashback)


Kill:
Charlie (As soon as possible)
Paolo (Or at least let him speak in his native Portuguese because his
English is as awkward as Milo Ventimiglia's acting...dammit, and I'm the one
saying that critics shouldn't compare those two shows.)
Nikki (Or give her a point, soon)
The Sheriff Lady (Cuz she's the only Other that I've ever seen on screen
that did not interest me)

Did I forget anyone?

Glad that they have all gotten to finally asking and answering questions
every week, with Claire following Desmond to find out what was going on and
Sayid and Locke quibbling and questioning one another.

Speaking of Locke, what is his game? Does he just really, really want to
stay on the island? Why doesn't he want people to know he was paralyzed? (He
looked like he was gonna shit his pants when Patchy almost said that he used
to be paralyzed.) He seems to think he knows what he's doing, and I can't
say that I think he was wrong in sacrificing Patchy, but why always so
mysterious? Maybe we'll get some answers next week, since I saw a quick
flash of Locke's face at the beginning of next week's previews (before I
could close my eyes and cover my ears), so I'm assuming that next week is a
Locke episode.

But the absolute best part of the episode was the end. Never have I been so
happy to see Jack before! (And smiling, too!) Fantastic.

Since his re-introduction at Island #2, I think Tom has come off as the most
relatable of the Others, so it doesn't surprise me that he is who Jack is
bonding with. (If, in fact, Jack's not trying to pull a fast one on them.)
But Jack's attitude notwithstanding, Kate's and her cohorts have got to be
rethinking their plans after seeing what they saw. How could they possibly
hope to "rescue" Jack? Even without all the people in their way, how will
then get back through the security system?

Man, I loved that ending though. I'm still smiling about it.

Is it ironic that The Flame went up in flames?

Oddly (or maybe not so oddly), since it came up last night that Patchy's
station is/was called "The Flame," I haven't been able to get that cheesy
Cheap Trick song from the 80s ("I will be the flaaaaaaaaaame!") out of my
head. I also keep hearing Johnny Storm saying "Flame on!"

So what I really liked this week is that while the flashbacks were only used
to provide character illumination (as they were with Hurley and Jack in past
weeks), the main story of the episode actually made progress on the Island
(unlike the Jack and Hurley episodes). And that's all I really want,
especially since the Island stuff was so freakin awesome.

Since Season 1, I've been ok with the show being about character development
and redemption, but I think we also need something to string us along and I
think that's exactly what last night's episode did. A nice self-contained
flashback for Sayid which did not take up a lot of the episode, a very funny
subplot for Sawyer and the beach people and some nice progress for Sayid and
his merry men.

So my first question is: Do think Sayid actually tortured that woman or was
he telling her what she wanted to hear? As Sayid is typically an excellent
judge of character, I'm sure he knew that she needed to forgive someone so
she could move on with her life. (And he also knew that admitting his
"guilt" would be the only way he lived.) But he refused to admit it to her
husband – probably because he was going to kill Sayid if he admitted it in
front of him and also because he probably didn't do it.

As amusing as the Sawyer subplot was, I hope that the next week flies by in
Lost-time, because the last two weeks (in our time), he's really popped out
some good ones. (I'm thinking of Zorro this week.) At least they didn't say
he's not allowed to be snarky, because him asking Nikki "Who the hell are
you?" was the best line of the episode.

So, on to the really good stuff, like Sayid actually asking questions - even
if he was partially (?) duped. What a novel concept, communication and
question asking on Lost.

I was happy to see wacky Ms. Klugh again, but sad that they cut her down so
quickly, even though I could tell that that is what she was saying to Patchy
in Russian or whatever language she was using. I was also amused by Kate's
reaction to recognizing her.

Originally, when I was watching the episode, I was annoyed with Locke.
Especially after the reveal that Patchy was an Other, he should have
realized he was being played. However, after having thought about it for
most of the day, I think it was pretty much exactly how he would have
reacted. At the most basic, we know he has a thing for games (Mouse Trap
from season 1) and being challenged. He also has a history of being a very
poor judge of character and believing what he wants to believe. I think he
has always been portrayed as someone who thinks he is smarter than he
actually is. And I think now, we are seeing the real Locke: someone who
really does not think about the consequences of his actions and has a
dangerous reliance on faith and feeling over logic. The Locke we met in
season one was trying to reinvent himself, but I don't think that was ever
really him, no matter how cool and badass he was (or thought he was) back
then. So today, I totally believe that Locke would have done what he did.
And I question why it was ever Jack versus Locke and not Jack versus Sayid,
who I have always thought should be their defacto "leader." Locke would be
better off as the mysterious stranger he was in season one, so he can only
fuck up his life.

Also, the blowing up of The Flame prevents Sayid's attempts at repairing the
satellite dish and keeps them on the Island a little bit longer, which (of
course) is necessary for their overall story.

I thought Patchy's patch looked very new. He was all disheveled looking, but
his patch looked like he bought it from Party City a couple of hours before
his visitors arrived. Just thought that was a little weird. (Another
costume? Maybe the Others are actually traveling performers?) When he was
tied up, I totally would have taken a peek under that thing to see what the
story was.

Speaking of Mr. Patch, what of his story do you believe? Why couldn't Dharma
coexist with the Others, if that is in fact true? (But that was kinda
supported by the chess game/Dr. Marvin Candle recording.) But if that is
true, his 11 year timeframe has to be a lie, but why he would lie about that
I don't really know. (Because I think the Dharma Initiative disbanded in the
mid-80s, so Dr. Candle wouldn't have the opportunity to make that recording
if the Others coup was 11 years ago, right?) But almost anything involving
Dharma is assumption anyway, so I don't know...

Anyway, I thought this week was much improved from the past two weeks,
because even if we don't get concrete answers, at least we moved ahead. And
I tend to think (as Stephen King once told me) that it is all about the
journey.